TABOO

also spelled tabu, Tongan tabu, Maori tapu the prohibition of an action or the use of an object based on ritualistic distinctions of them either as being sacred and consecrated or as being dangerous, unclean, and accursed. The term taboo is of Polynesian origin and was first noted by Captain James Cook during his visit to Tonga in 1771; he introduced the term into the English language, from which it achieved widespread currency. Taboos were most highly developed in the Polynesian societies of the South Pacific, but they have been present in virtually all cultures. Taboos could include prohibitions on fishing or picking fruit at certain seasons; food taboos that restrict the diet of pregnant women; prohibitions on talking to or touching chiefs or members of other high social classes; taboos on walking or traveling in certain areas, such as forests; and various taboos that function during important life events such as birth, marriage, and death. There is an apparent inconsistency between the taboos in which notions of sacredness or holiness are apparent (e.g., the head of a Polynesian chief was taboo and thus could not be touched because of his general character as a sacred leader) and taboos in which notions of uncleanliness were the motivating factor (e.g., physical contact with a menstruating woman may be taboo because it is thought to be defiling, and persons who have been in physical contact with the dead may likewise be forbidden to touch food with their hands). Generally, the prohibition that is inherent in a taboo includes the idea that a breach or defiance of the taboo will automatically be followed by some kind of trouble to the offender, such as lack of success in hunting or fishing, sickness, or the death of a relative. These misfortunes would ordinarily be regarded as accidents or bad luck, but to believers in taboos they are regarded as punishments for breaking some taboo. A person meets with an accident or has no success in a given pursuit, and, in seeking for its cause, he or others infer that he has in some manner committed a breach of taboo. Taboos as manifested in various cultures have stimulated an extensive scholarly literature that seeks to compare, analyze, and explain them. Among the most important researchers or theorists on the topic were William Robertson Smith, Sir James G. Frazer in his work The Golden Bough (190715), Wilhelm Wundt, and Sigmund Freud in his book Totem and Taboo (1913). Freud provided perhaps the most ingenious explanation for the apparently irrational nature of taboos, positing that they were generated by ambivalent social attitudes and in effect represent forbidden actions for which there nevertheless exists a strong unconscious inclination. Freud directly applied this viewpoint to the most universal of all taboos, the incest taboo, which prohibits sexual relations between close blood relatives. There is no generally accepted explanation of taboos, but there is broad agreement that the taboos current in any society tend to relate to objects and actions that are significant for the social order and that belong to the general system of social control.